atcoat greeted his new friends, and
inspected the Doughboys, laughing back at the crowd when some one
called: "Good for you, Prince." To the ladies who held the twin flags
he also expressed his thanks, telling them it was very nice of them to
come out on so cold a night to meet him. Feminine America was, for an
instant, non-plussed, and found nothing to answer. But their vivacity
quickly came back to them, and they very quickly returned the
friendliness and smiles of the Prince, shook his hand and wished him
the happiest of visits in their country.

The interchange of nationalities in engines being effected, the train
swung at a rapid pace beside the waters of Lake Champlain, pushing
south along the old marching route into and out of Canada.

On the morning of November 11th it was raining heavily and the train
ran through a depressing greyness. We were all eager to see America,
and see her at her best, but a train journey, especially in wet
weather, shows a country at its worst. The short stops, for instance,
in the stations of great cities like Philadelphia and Baltimore were
the sort of things to give a false impression. The stations themselves
were empty, a novelty to us, who had had three months of crowded
stations, and, also, about these stations we saw slums, for the first
time on this Western continent. After having had the conviction grow
up within me that this Continent was the land of comely and decent
homes, the sight of these drab areas and bad roads was, personally, a
shock. Big and old cities find it hard to eliminate slums, but it
seemed to me that it would be merely good business to remove such
places from out of sight of the railways, and to plan town approaches
on a more impressive scale. America certainly can plan buildings on an
impressive scale. It has the gift of architecture.

The train went through to Washington in what was practically a non-stop
run, and arrived in the rain. The Prince was received in the rain at
the back of the train, though that reception was truncated, so that the
great Americans who were there to meet him could be presented in the
dryness under the station roof.

Heading the group of notable men who met the Prince was the
Vice-President, Mr. Marshall, and with him was the British Ambassador,
Lord Grey, and General Pershing, a popular figure with the waiting
crowd and a hero regarded with rapture by American young
womanhood--which was willing to break the Media